The people of Panama are due to vote in a referendum on an ambitious plan to expand the country's famous canal and increase traffic. Many modern container ships are too large for the 50-mile (80km) canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic. The Panamanian government and the company that runs the canal want to build a new channel and new locks at either end to accommodate them. The plan would double the canal's capacity, but at a cost of $3-5bn. Supporters say the expansion will bring widespread benefits to the country, but opponents argue it will add to Panama's debt. Increased revenue from tolls is expected to cover some of the costs, but the plan still needs $2.3bn in loans. Opinion polls suggest most Panamanians will back the proposal. Thousands of construction jobs would be generated, along with many more indirect jobs. But opponents are worried about cost overruns on the massive project, and that opportunities for corruption may prove too hard to resist. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Deeply controversial issues like abortion and suicide rights have nothing to do with the Constitution, and unelected judges too often choose to find new rights at the expense of the democratic process, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday. Scalia, during a talk on the judiciary sponsored by the National Italian American Foundation, dismissed the idea of judicial independence as an absolute virtue. He noted that dozens of states, since the mid-1800s, have chosen to let citizens elect their judges. "You talk about independence as though it is unquestionably and unqualifiably a good thing," Scalia said. "It may not be. It depends on what your courts are doing." Scalia added, "The more your courts become policy-makers, the less sense it makes to have them entirely independent." ...http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/10/21/ap3109747.html

The Afghan government and the United Nations appealed Sunday for $43 million in aid for 1.9 million people facing food shortages because of severe drought.Clashes between NATO troops and militants, meanwhile, left 15 insurgents dead on Saturday in Afghanistan's restive south, the alliance said.Because of extreme drought conditions, 1.9 million people will need food assistance, 200,000 more than estimated in July, a U.N. statement said. A similar appeal for $76.4 million in aid in June resulted in donations of about half that amount."We urge donor countries to step forward with pledges that will enable us to provide vital food and other essential living items as we approach the winter months," said Ameerah Haq, deputy head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.Afghanistan is facing a shortfall in this year's wheat harvest because of the prolonged drought, particularly in the north and northwest of the country....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,223377,00.html

Lying just south of the equator, the eight square-mile pinprick of land is a far cry from the postcard image of a South Seas paradise. Decades of phosphate mining have left much of the island of Nauru — the world's smallest republic — a parched moonscape. But while life is tough for its 11,000 inhabitants, it's arguably harder for a man who may qualify as the loneliest refugee in the world. Mohammed Sagar was one of 1,500 refugees from the Middle East and Afghanistan who were sent to Nauru as part of Australia's "Pacific Solution," a policy under which Canberra outsourced the problem of asylum-seekers trying to reach its shores by sending them to poverty-stricken neighbors. The refugees were intercepted by Royal Australian Navy warships in 2001 and 2002 and sent either to Nauru or Manus, an equally remote island in Papua New Guinea. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/20/world/main2111350.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2111350

Bush yesterday acknowledged that U.S. commanders are changing tactics in Iraq nearly every day but declared that the mission "is clear and unchanging." "Our goal," he said, "is victory." But Mr. Bush indicated little intention to make major changes, although the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far this month climbed to 78 -- the highest monthly tally this year -- and despite reports that the White House is nearing a dramatic shift in war strategy. "What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal," the president said in his radio address. "Our commanders on the ground are constantly adjusting their approach to stay ahead of the enemy, particularly in Baghdad." Mr. Bush vehemently rejected pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq. "There is one thing we will not do: We will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," he said. ampaigned on a theme of change. So the killing will go on and only the mad men think there is something to win. ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061022-124644-9954r.htm

A message from elusive Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, released at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, warns there will be a surge in violence in Afghanistan "at a surprising level," and advised militants fighting U.S. and NATO troops to stay united. "By the will of Allah, the fight will intensify in the coming few months," the statement attributed to Omar said. "Our predictions about the war have proved right in the past. I am confident that our fight will gain a strong foothold in the near future." A Taliban spokesman told CNN the statement came from Omar and was released Saturday in the hours before Eid al-Fitr a three-day festive period marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr begins Sunday or Monday, depending on when the crescent moon is sighted. ...http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/22/mullahomar.statement/index.html?eref=rss_world